


Charlie Learns To Read (sort of)

by nylipps



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Bitch Dennis, Minor Mac McDonald/Dennis Reynolds, Supportive Mac
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 11:35:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17807264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nylipps/pseuds/nylipps
Summary: Charlie and Mac use snapchat. Dennis is a bitch but it's okay, Mac can handle it.





	Charlie Learns To Read (sort of)

Charlie felt a buzz in his pocket.

“huh” he flinched, thinking there was a bug on him. He swatted at his pocket where he’d felt the buzz. All he felt was his phone. “Oh.” he squinted at the shapes on the screen, gave up and unlocked his phone. It was a snapchat. He didn’t know who it was from until he opened it to see Mac’s face in front of Paddy’s with a big question mark drawn on in red.

“Shit shit shit.” he hurriedly shoved his shoes on an ran out the door- he was late for work.  
He rushed to the bar. Once he got there, the gang was already balls deep in whatever scheme they’d settled on for the day.

“Thank GOD you are here, Charlie!” Mac clapped his hands together and balanced on the balls of his heels.

“Where the hell have you been, man. We’re on like, phase two of the planning phase,” Dennis huffed.

“Slept in,” Charlie mumbled in response. _There were phases?_ “Catch me up.”

“No time.” Dennis clasped his hands together. “Charlie, we need you on lookout, IRS is gonna be here soon.”

“What? Who’s getting audited now?” Charlie asked, raising his eye brows.

“Must I explain everything to you, Charlie? Mac will you handle this? Dee, Frank, come with me.”

Mac crossed his arms and watched the three of them leave. He turned to Charlie;

“Okay, well, Frank screwed up big time man, basically the IRS is coming here to check out the books or something, whatever. They’re off…” he trailed off. “Well, the three of them are going to falsify some documents or something. What we need you to do is stay here and tell us if anyone comes in and starts asking questions.”

“People come in and ask questions all the time, dude. ‘Where’s my damn beer?’ ‘Why’s the bathroom so dirty?’ ‘Can I speak to the mana-" Charlie made air quotes and rolled his eyes.

“No, dude. Like… questions about like finances, or if they ask for Frank or something. I gotta go to the store and grab some raisin bran and tape.”

“Why tape?” Charlie yelled, but Mac was already out the door.

Charlie sighed. He hated being left at the bar with nothing to do. He twiddled his thumbs, then checked in the vent in the back office. _I swear I heard some ghouls up there_ he thought. He checked-- there were no ghouls.

Then he felt his phone buzz in his pocket again. He pulled it out, looking at the little symbols. He looked a little closer this time. _Two mountains, a little mountain, and a crescent moon._ He gave up deciphering the shapes on his screen and opened the message. It was Mac again. He was holding up a rectangular box and smiling-- _must be the raisin bran,_ Charlie thought. He sent back a blurry picture of his shoe with a thumbs up drawn sloppily in red.

He stood behind the bar a little longer. No one came in asking any questions about Frank or money. He headed down to the basement to see check on the greenish ooze coming out of a crack in the wall. It was still there. He stuck his finger in it and sniffed. His nose crinkled. He licked his finger and stuck it back in the ooze. Thankfully, right as he was about to lick his finger again, he felt his phone buzz. _God, what does Mac want now?_ He looked down. Sure enough, the two mountains, the lonely mountain and the crescent moon were there. Mac. Mountains. Lonely mountain. Crescent moon. That meant Mac! He shook his head and opened the message. It was a picture of tape with a smiley face drawn over it.

Charlie wiped his finger off on his jeans and went back upstairs. He looked around the bar. No one new had walked in. He went to the back office. He checked the vent for ghouls one more time. Still no ghouls, goblins, or imps.

He sat down at the desk, grabbed a scrap of paper and a pencil. He drew two mountains, one lonely mountain with a line through it and a crescent moon.

“Mac.” Charlie smiled and drew the picture again.

He remembered when Mac taught him how to spell his name. _Crescent moon, lonely mountain with a line through it and a cross._

He bent over his paper again and held the pencil between his index finger and his thumb. He straightened his back to view his work:

CAT + MAC

He hunched over again. This time it read:

CAT ♡ MAC

He smiled, sat his pencil down, and shoved the paper in his front pocket. He was startled by loud knocking at the door. The door flung open. It was Mac and he looked mad.

“What the hell, dude! You are so lucky I got back when I did. The IRS lady had just walked in the bar. Luckily, I was able to stall her until Dennis and the others get back.” He straightened his neck and his frown changed to a self-satisfied grin with his arms crossed over his chest. “What are you doing here anyways, man? Reading through the books?” He smirked.

“No, uh, just checking for ghouls. Didn’t find any,” Charlie mumbled.

“Yeah, buddy. I’m sure you didn’t,” Mac replied “C’mon, dude. I think they’re back.”

They walked out together to see Dennis, Dee and Frank. Dennis shot Charlie a dirty look while Frank held up the box of raisin bran with a different label taped to the front of it. He was scrambling to explain away whatever money laundering he was suspected of.

Dennis walked towards Charlie.

“What the hell, man? Didn’t you get my message? I told you we were almost here and told you to keep your cool until we got there.”

Charlie pulled out his phone to check the message and the paper he’d been writing on fell out with it. He hoped no one had noticed and proceeded to check Dennis’ message, a picture of the ground with an arrow drawn on and a snowflake emoji. When Charlie looked up, Mac had picked up the paper and was looking at it with raised eyebrows.

“Dude, did you write this?” He exclaimed. Charlie scratched the back of his neck.

“Uh, yeah. Remember when you taught me to draw my name? I copied the picture that comes up when you message me.”

“Yeah, you copied the letters, man! That’s awesome, Charlie!” Mac smiled and wrapped his arm around Charlie’s shoulders. Charlie smiled too.

“Yeah, thanks, man. I- I dunno,” he shrugged.

“Okay, this is all very nice, but Frank is floundering. You two celebrate Charlie writing a three-letter word while I go fix this situation.” Dennis said and walked over to were Frank and the IRS lady were talking. It was true, Frank was floundering.

Mac smiled one last time at Charlie and shoved the paper in his pocket and walked over to where Dennis was to make sure nothing got out of hand.

Charlie walked back behind the bar and watched his friends cover up their tax fraud situation while he dunked the dirty beer glasses in bleach and set them back on the shelf.


End file.
